Kuttram 23 Review:  A fine thriller

Bharath Vijayakumar

It is a little surprising that director Arivazhagan has made only 4 films in close to 8 years, more so as he has quite a decent hit ratio. With Kuttram 23 he does hit a home run and one hopes he doesn't put a pause again before the next strike.

Plot:

A series of murders/suicides seem to have a common undercurrent. As a police officer begins to hunt for clues, things also start to get a little personal.

Cast:

Arun Vijay is very good as Vettri. The chiseled frame is only a add-on here and is performance as the emotional yet grounded cop should be a game changer for his career. The casting team has done a neat job as the supporting cast of Kuttram 23 is very good. This is not a performance heavy film but you do relate to the characters with the faces playing them.

 Direction:

The film has an extremely interesting premise. There is an emotional core behind the crime that could make for a fascinating study. So the final reveal (though a little rushed) looks entirely plausible. The best thing about Kuttram 23 is that it keeps enough up its sleeve till the climax showdown. Most thrillers either exhaust the surprises early on or hold them too long leaving us exhausted. But Arivazhagan succeeds in keeping the ultimate treasure well hidden but keeps revealing pointers at a consistent pace. No screen time is wasted. The romance is treated in a mature manner and the heroine (Mahima does a good job) character has a solid play in the scheme of things. Even a seemingly unimportant moment (when the hero reveals the reason behind his intent in the case) makes its way later to finish the circle. The film keeps comedy and songs to the bare minimum.

There is a scene towards the end involving a custodial death. This emotional and serious scene ends on a lighter note. You are not sure whether to laugh as a film like Visaranai did show the ugly side of all this.

Bottomline:

A well made and competent mainstream thriller. What makes it more compelling is that the dangers it shows seem very real.

Rating: 3.25/5

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